Target
apologizes for any discomfort
that may have been caused by
the baseball caps and shorts
carrying the insignia
88.
-- Company spokesman

Thursday, August 29, 2002; 7:28
AM

Target
Recalls 'Heil Hitler' Clothes

The Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS -- Target
Corp. said Wednesday that it is recalling
baseball caps and shorts from all of its
stores after a California customer
realized symbols printed on the clothing
are a code for "Heil Hitler."

David Irving
recalls:

SOME time ago plans to sell
Britain's Triumph Acclaim motor
car in Germany were halted by
ther ealisation that it
translated into the Sieg
Heil..

The caps and shorts are imprinted with
"eight eight" and "88." Among white
supremacists, that stands for "Heil
Hitler" because H is the eighth letter of
the alphabet.

The Minneapolis-based chain told all of
its 1,100 stores to stop selling the
clothing. A customer in Davis, California,
alerted Target.

"Target
apologizes for any discomfort that may
have been caused by the baseball caps
and shorts carrying the insignia 88,"
the company said in a statement.
"Target is a family oriented store and
company and it is not our intent to
carry any merchandise that promotes
hate."

In an interview with The Associated
Press, Target officials declined to
comment on whether the clothing came from
a branded manufacturer or from their own
store label line.

Joseph Rodriguez, a video
producer for the University of California,
Davis, was shocked when he found the
printed symbols on a pair of red shorts at
the Elk Grove Target store in June,
according to the Sacramento Bee.

He had learned the meaning of the white
power code from a documentary on racist
rock music. The symbols are commonly used
among supremacists in graffiti and is a
popular tattoo.

Rodriguez bought the shorts and took
them to the store manager. But after being
told the store just sells what is shipped,
he took his complaint to Target's
corporate office, where he said he was
"blown off."

Then Rodriguez went to the
Southern Poverty Law
Center in Montgomery, Ala., which
campaigns against racism, tracks racist
organizations and runs an educational Web
site.

Target officials told the Sacramento
Bee that they first learned what the
symbols meant on Monday when Rodriguez's
complaints were put on the center's Web
site.

"As soon as the appropriate people were
notified at Target, we immediately moved
to have the merchandise pulled from all of
our stores," Target said in the
statement.